1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to streaming content over a network.
2. Description of Related Art
The Internet and other networks provide access to increasing volumes of multimedia content such as songs, advertisements, video, and so forth. Network connections, however, are often too slow to permit quick downloading of large multimedia files.
One technique for delivering multimedia content over a network is known as “streaming.” Streaming involves transmitting data such that a network receiver, such as a personal computer running a web-browser, can start presenting content to a user before transmission of the entire data file completes. The receiver typically buffers received data that arrives ahead of time to avoid “starving” if the transmission rate slows. Buffering can help ensure a smooth presentation of transmitted data.
Some network sites provide “Internet Radio” and “Internet TV” Stations. Some sites offer a limited ability to personalize the content streamed to a user. For example, some sites enable a user to specify preferences of a particular genre of music or of a favorite artist. The sites use these preferences when composing a play list for the user from the large library of content stored at the site.
The inventor of the present invention realized that the content stream could be personalized even more by allowing submission of content from others for delivery to a particular user. The inventor also realized that such an approach can, in varying degrees, decouple the task of providing content from the task of streaming content to receivers.